Brooklyn Heights Prewar With Sunken Living Room, Deco Bath Asks $825K

There is an abundance of closet space inside this prewar unit, along with details dating from the building’s Deco-era construction. Features include a sunken living room, a foyer, dining nook, and a bathroom with period tile and fixtures. Likely on the fourth floor, the one-bedroom apartment is in The Mansion House, the six-story 1930s apartment building at 145 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights, within walking distance to shops and parks.

The Mansion House moniker is a nod to the building formerly on the site, a mansion used as an academy for young ladies before being turned into a hotel. When it was demolished in 1930 some tenants had been in residence since the 1880s. The land stayed vacant for several years, prompting ghost stories, before construction began in 1935 for the current building.

Designed by Arthur Weiser, the restrained brick building has touches of Colonial Revival details, with urn-topped brick pillars guarding a brick pathway to a recessed entrance with a columned portico. A sketch of the building in an early brochure and the circa 1940 tax photo both show shutters on the central windows of the second floor. While the shutters are gone, their shadows are still visible.

The same brochure lists the many “modern conveniences and improvements” designed for residents like the “dropped” living rooms, built-in clothes hampers, and cross ventilation. This unit opens into a foyer with two closets and enough space for a small office setup. An arched opening and iron railing leads to curved steps down to the living room.

Wood floors with inlaid borders extend from the foyer into the main rooms. The large living room has space for seating and dining areas. An angled bank of windows repeats the curve of the steps.

Set off by another arched opening and an iron railing, the dining platform overlooking the living room leads to the windowed kitchen.

The materials in the efficient kitchen could perhaps use an upgrade, but as is, the look is sleek and minimalist with white cabinets, counters, and backsplash tiles. The black and white tiled floor nods to classic prewar design; there is no dishwasher.

In the bedroom are three closets; one of them is a walk-in. The room has picture rails and a ceiling fan. The walls and trim have neutral finishes, as do most of the rooms in the apartment.

There is a spot of color in the bathroom, which looks like it could have tile and fixtures in the pinky hued tones of American Standard’s “Corallin” fixtures or perhaps the peachier “Persian Brown,” set off by black border tile and accessories. The Pembroke-style tub mentioned in the early brochure is still in place as is the clothes hamper and a peg leg sink. The mosaic checkerboard floor, a look that is currently having a revival, is missing a section but appears mostly intact. The medicine cabinet has been updated. Not shown in the listing photos is the built-in shower.

A private storage unit comes with the apartment, the listing notes. The building’s 106 units share a laundry room, a live-in super, and a bike room. Maintenance for this unit is $1,575 a month.

Leslie Marshall and Nick Hovsepian have the listing, and the apartment is priced at $825,000. What do you think?

[Listing: 145 Hicks Street, Unit A47 | Broker: Corcoran] GMAP

[Photos via Corcoran]

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